Chuck Wolfe is an environmental and land use lawyer with a graduate degree in regional planning, and over 24 years of experience in environmental and land use law, innovative land use regulatory tools and sustainable development techniques.

Reconciling urban snow, one year later–learning from Jerusalem?

For Seattleites, will December 2009 echo our sometimes divisive 2008 experience with urban snow? Or might snow provide a basis for new unity of purpose?

In Jerusalem, one of the most documented, and most disputed urban places, sometimes it snows, bringing to mind the interconnectedness and universality of snow implied for a divided Ireland in James Joyce’s 1914 short story, “The Dead”.

When I read of the 2008 snow in Jerusalem, I searched for new images to update photos from long ago, and in the process rediscovered Amit Cohen’s touching words describing how an earlier Jerusalem snow event brought a feeling of unity to an often divided Middle Eastern urban fabric:
“The flakes combined as they touched ground, forming a thin, crystalline layer on the surfaces of the city. From Saladin Street in the east to Jaffa Road in the west, the whiteness was gathering. It was early evening, and in the light of dusk, snow was falling in Jerusalem.”